A Light in the Darkness
by Cassiopia
Summary: Will-be chap story! AU Han was not rescued in ROTJ but the empire has still fallen. Leia's miserable without Han, but tries to cope. On a search to find him, she falls in love with someone else...until Han is released by a bounty hunter, and he walks ba


Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas!! The characters are his, but the storyline (for this story anyway is MINE) Oh whoops, wait, the dream that Leia had was compliments of GL, too!  
  
  
  
CHAPTER ONE/THE CORELLIAN'S COIN  
  
The damn valve on the carborater was busted, again. .Just like everything else in this pile of junk that Han liked to call a ship.  
  
Han. Leia would feed him to a rancor the moment she got the chance. And yet.  
  
And yet, he'd helped her escape from the hidden base on Hoth only hours ago. So maybe he wasn't all bad. Anyway, Leia owed him one.  
  
Han rounded the corner just as Leia was trying desperatly to get the valve to close. She didn't feel like talking to Han right now; she wasn't quite certain what to think of him. All she needed was to feel vulnerable around him right now, especially since he'd been flirting with her so much lately.  
  
Han reached his arms around Leia to try to help her close the valve. Just as he did, Leia pushed back firmly, forcing Han away.  
  
"Hey, your worship, I'm only trying to help," he said, holding his hands up innocently. Leia didn't feel like arguing right now.  
  
"Would you please stop," she said, pushing hard against the valve, "calling me that?"  
  
"Sure, Leia." Han's tone was softer than it usually was. Leia sighed, confused once again.  
  
"You make it so difficult sometimes," she said, shaking her head and backing up from the valve. She rubbed her hand sorely and brought her finger to her mouth where she had cut it.  
  
"I do, I really do," Han said, taking a step towards her. "You could be little nicer though. Come on, admit it, sometimes you think I'm all right."  
  
"Occasionally. Maybe. When you're not acting like a scoundrel." Leia looked up at him, and immediately regretted it. Something about him looked different, and he looked, well, handsome.  
  
Han took Leia's hand in his and began rubbing it gently, to ease the pain. "Scoundrel? Scoundrel? I like the sound of that."  
  
"Stop that," she said, trying hard to keep her voice forceful but just barely succeeding.  
  
"Stop what?" Han asked innocently, although they were both aware that he knew perfectly well what she was talking about.  
  
"Stop that," she repeated, this time nodding her head slightly to their adjoined hands. "My hands are dirty."  
  
"My hands are dirty too, what are you afraid of?"  
  
"Afraid?"  
  
"You're trembling." Han took a step closer. Leia was, indeed, trembling, but she wouldn't give in to him.  
  
"I'm not trembling." She shook her head and looked into his eyes. There was something there - a mix of confusion, like herself, but also.  
  
Han stepped closer again and bent down slightly so that their faces were closer together. Leia shivered.  
  
"You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life," he whispered seductively.  
  
"I happen to like NICE men," Leia retorted.  
  
"I'm a nice man," Han said, leaning so close that their lips were close to touching. Leia was using all of the self control she could muster, but it wasn't doing her any good. She almost leaned forward towards him.  
  
"No you're not, you're," she tried to whisper in her defense, but Han gathered her in his arms and leaned down for their kjss.  
  
Leia sat up abruptly in bed, sobbing. Han, oh, Han, she thought to herself through her tears. It wasn't like her to cry, but it was too late, the tears were already coming like the storms on Kamino. How could Han be gone? They had no idea where this bounty hunter had taken him, he could be anywhere.  
  
Crying harder, though keeping her sobs as quiet as she could, Leia slipped out of bed and managed to stumble across the room to her dressing table. She opened the top drawer and dug deep, throwing clothes to the sides in her emotional madness. Then, she found it.  
  
Buried at the bottom of the drawer was a coin. A Corellian coin, to be more specific. It was worth a lot of credits, so many in fact, that she could most likely buy any cantina in Mos Eisly with it. It was worth that much, and Han had still given it to her.  
  
Clutching the coin tightly in her hand and making her way out to the balcony, Leia calmed her emotions by looking up at the stars. But before she could stop herself, thoughts of Han entered her mind again, and she was forced to recall the day he'd given her the coin.  
  
They had sat on a couch in their room on Cloud City. They were alone- who knew where Chewie or Threepio had gone. And, at the moment, they didn't care. Han and Leia were too deep in conversation to notice either one's absence.  
  
"Soon as the hyper drive is fixed, we can rendez-vous with the rest of the squadron," Han was assuring Leia. She looked up at him with sad eyes.  
  
"Then you're as good as gone, aren't you?"  
  
They sat in silence for a few moments, as both of them realized that this was, inevitably, true.  
  
"Wait here," Han said suddenly, and, jumping up, walked quickly into his sleeping quarters. He emerged shortly with his hand closed around a small object.  
  
"Here," Han said, holding out his hand. He opened it, and there, lying on his palm, was a glittering, golden coin. "I want you to have it. My father gave it to me before I blasted off that hell-hole. He wanted me to have a good start in the universe, no matter how much I drove him crazy."  
  
"Han, I couldn't take this," Leia shook her head, pushing Han's hand back at him. "It's so valuable! And it must mean so much to you."  
  
"That's why I want you to have it," He said, sitting down next to her. "That way, you'll remember me while I'm.gone, paying off Jabba the Hutt. I'm all about the money, remember?" He asked, jokingly. Leia smiled at him, but it just seemed to hit her harder that the possibility was there. After Han paid off Jabba, it was possible he wouldn't come back.  
  
But that never happened, Leia thought, bringing herself back to the present. Fett took him before he got the chance.  
  
About to break into a new wave of tears, Leia sat down on a chair overlooking the streets below. It'll be okay, she assured herself. And, at least, she told him she'd loved him.  
  
But she didn't know if he loved her back.  
  
Leia sat in the darkness, torturing herself with these thoughts. Two rooms away, Luke had felt her sadness, so greatly that it had awoken him from his usually deep slumber.  
  
Dragging himself out of bed, he set off down the hall towards Leia's room. Concerned when she didn't answer her door, he opened it and called softly, "Leia?"  
  
"Out here," Leia answered quietly from the balcony. She quickly tried to pull herself into shape. The last person who needed to see her upset right now was Luke. He loved her. What would he do when he found out that she'd chosen Han?  
  
"Hey," Luke whispered, sitting down in the chair beside Leia. "What's up?"  
  
"N-nothing," Leia tried to convince him. She looked out at the city, turning her face from him so that he couldn't see she'd been crying.  
  
"Nothing." Luke repeated her questioningly, nodded slightly, as though accepting the fact that she didn't want to talk. But that didn't stop him.  
  
"Han's going to be okay," he said gently, taking a stab at what was wrong. It was more than obvious that the two had feelings for each other. If only they'd admitted it before . before they lost Han.  
  
"I know," Leia said, turning to look curiously at look. How could he have known? Oh well, no matter, she wasn't getting into this. Not with him. Not tonight.  
  
"I don't think you do," Luke said, his voice firm. "That's why you're crying."  
  
"I'm not crying," she said indignantly.  
  
"You were," he pointed out, then softened his voice again. "We'll find him Leia, don't worry about it."  
  
"I'm not. I don't care if that.money-loving, no good scoundrel is never found." //Scoundrel? I like the sound of that.// The words echoed in her mind unavoidably. She stood up and stalked away from Luke, upset. How could he be so optimistic? He hadn't lost the person he loved.  
  
Luke stood up and followed her. "Yes, you do," Luke said. Leia stopped, but didn't turn to face him. He stood next to her, looking out over Coruscant. "Come on, Leia. Admit it, to yourself if not to anyone else. You love him."  
  
"I." She started, but decided against denying it anymore. She was too tired, and she hurt too much. "Is it that obvious?"  
  
Luke smiled slightly to himself, glad that Leia'd admitted it, but at the same time, sad. Sad that she loved Han, and not himself. Somehow, he'd known since Han and Leia's first argument in the middle of a laser fight in the detention block on the death star. He knew that they'd fall in love, and he'd be the odd-man out. It was only a matter of time.  
  
"Yeah," Luke said, putting a comforting arm around Leia. "The guys in rogue squadron have had a bet going about when you two are going to get together."  
  
"But how could they." Leia started. Luke smiled and explained, "Anyone who argues that much, especially in front of the council and the soldiers the way you two do, is obviously in love."  
  
"Oh." Leia blushed slightly. They all knew, even before she did. Before Han. Or maybe he knew he'd loved her all along. Or maybe Han didn't love her. He'd never said it.//"I love you." Han looked at her. "I know."// She remembered that day more vividly than she'd like to.  
  
"He does, Leia," Luke said, sensing her thoughts. Leia turned to him, surprised, and he smiled at her. "I know he loves you. With all of his heart."  
  
"Then why didn't he tell me?" she whispered. Her throat hurt from crying, she could barely talk.  
  
"I think he did," Luke said. He nodded at Leia's hand.  
  
It was then that she noticed she was still clutching Han's coin. It had left an imprint on her hand, and she rubbed at it absent mindedly. Leia looked up at Luke questioningly.  
  
"That meant a lot to him," Luke said. "He'd only give it to you if he really, really felt something about you."  
  
"But how did you know that he'd given it to me?" Leia asked. Luke shrugged. "Jedi intuition."  
  
"Ah." Leia nodded. She was beginning to feel a bit better. Luke DID have a point, after all.  
  
Luke looked sympathetically down at Leia, who was now eyeing her coin, turning it over slowly in her hands. She really did miss Han, more than even she probably realized.  
  
"Go to bed," Luke said gently. "We'll see about finding a way to get to Han in the morning." Leia nodded, barely hearing Luke, and walked back into her sleeping quarters, closing the door behind her.  
  
When Leia was in her room, Luke slipped quietly out of her appartement and locked the door with a wave of his hand. He'd get Han back for Leia. If he didn't get her, then he'd make sure the right person did. 


End file.
